Dump bailer



y 3, 1955 A. E. JORDAN 2,707,520

DUMP BAILER Filed June 9, 1951 Z Sheets-Sheet 1 d a m w W. a a WW w z w f I .1 ,m WWI fi mww fh INVENTOR. #4 BER 7'- 5. JORDAN ATTORNEY W4) 1 4 kg;

y 3, 1955 A. E. JORDAN 2,707,520

DUMP BAILER Filed June 9, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ALBERT E. Jo/PaA/v INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y Unite This invention relates to oil well tools and more particularly to a device for depositing a foreign substance at a desired position in a well.

Various situations requiring the deposit of a foreign substance, such as cement, at a particular point in a well are well known to those skilled in the art and hence need not be discussed further. It is most desirable that the cement be discharged from the dump bailer, which is customarily employed to lower the cement to the desired position in a well, without excessive dilution of the cement with well fluid. Where a barricade or plug must be set in the well it is desirable that such plug be set at the same time and by the same tool which deposits a charge of the cement on the plug after it is set. Furthermore, it is desirable that the sides of the oil well be wiped in the area where the cement is to be discharged in order that a clean bonding surface be provided to which the cement may adhere or bond strongly.

Accordingly it is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved device for depositing a charge of foreign substance at a desired position in a well.

It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improved device for setting a barricade at a desired position in an oil well and simultaneously depositing a charge of foreign substance on the barricade.

It is still another object of the invention to provide a new and improved device for depositing a charge of foreign substance in a well without excessive dilution of the foreign substance with Well fluid.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a new and improved device for depositing a charge of provided at its lower end with a hammer for striking and breaking into small pieces the frangible plate when the pull rod is jerked upwardly by a flexible member connected to the upper end of the pull rod. The bailer is suspended on a cable and a trip for pulling the pull rod upwardly is secured to the cable above the bailer. The trip is actuated by a tubular member which slides along the cable under the force of gravity to strike the actuating member of the trip. A resilient wiping ring secured to the bailer above the discharge end of the bailer extends outwardly of the bailer and creates a pressure differential as the bailer is moved upwardly which tends to pull the charge of cement from the lower end. of the bailer thus aiding to prevent dilution of the cement with Well fluid. A barricade or plug is removably secured to the lower end of the bailer by a plurality of pivoted catches held in expanded locking position by a lock member mounted on the lower end of the pull rod.

States Patent The lock member is moved upwardly with the pull rod to release the plug when the pull rod is moved upwardly. Resilient wiping and sealing rings secured to the plug maintain it in position in the well after the plug is released from the bailer.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the device showing it in position in a well with the plug secured to the end of the bailer;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of the bailer and plug showing the various elements as they appear before the pull rod is moved upwardly to break the frangible plate;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of the bailer and plug showing the various elements as they appear after the pull rod has been moved upwardly and after the bailer has thereafter also been moved upwardly;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view of the trip;

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 3; 7

Figures 6 and 7 are transverse sectional views taken on the lines 66 and 7-7, respectively, of Figure 2;

Figures 8 and 9 are transverse sectional views taken on the lines 8--8 and 9-9, respectively, of Figure 4; and,

Figure 10 is a fragmentary enlarged perspective view of a part of the bailer.

Referring now to the drawing, the device for depositing cement or other foreign substance in a well includes a dump bailer 10, a plug 11 releasably secured to the lower end of the bailer, and a trip 12 for actuating the dumping mechanism of the bailer and simultaneously releasing the plug 11 from the bailer. The trip 12 may be actuated by a go-devil or tubular member 13 slidably mounted on the line or cable 14 on which the trip 12 is mounted and on which is suspended the bailer 10.

The bailer 10 comprises a cylindrical shell 15 externally threaded at its upper and lower ends. A cable connection 16 threaded on the upper end of the cylin drical shell 15 is provided with cross-member 17 about which is looped the lower end of the cable 14 so that the bailer is suspended on the lower end of the cable. A coupling 18 is threaded on the lower end of the cylindrical shell 15. The coupling 18 has an annular in wardly extending flange 19 on which is mounted a resilient ring 20 to yieldably support a disk or bottom plate 21 made of glass or other frangible substance. A split ring 22 of normally greater diameter than the bottom plate is also disposed on the ring 20 and is provided with a plurality of inwardly and downwardly extending hooks 23 whose ends over-lie the peripheral edge of the bottom plate. The hooks 23 are resilient and therefore depressable so that the bottom plate, whose diameter is smaller than the inside diameter of the coupling 18, may be inserted from the top of the coupling, the hooks 23 bending downwardly under a force smaller than that required to break the bottom plate to allow the bottom plate to pass therebetween to the ring 29. The diameter of the ring 20 and the inside diameter of the upper portion of coupling 18 are substantially equal in order that the bottom edge of the shell might constrain ring against upward movement relative to the coupling.

The bottom plate 21 is provided with a central aperture 24 through which passes the lower section 25 of a two section pull rod 26. The lower section 25 is rod shaped and of smaller diameter than the upper section 27 and its upper threaded end is received in a threaded bore in the lower end of the upper section. A washer 28 is disposed about the lower section 25 between the bottom plate and the lower end of the upper section 27 to cushion the bottom plate against downward shocks which may be imparted by the upper section. The lower section of the pull rod is provided with an annular flange 29 on which is supported a plate breaker assembly 30. The breaker assembly includes a lower hammer or comminuting member 31 having a frusto-conical upper surface and a central bore 32 which is enlarged to provide a seat 33 for a nesting spring 34 which biases the hammer downwardly away from the frangible plate. The upper section 27 of the pull rod 26 is provided with an aperture 35 to which is secured the lower end of the chain 36.

When a strong abrupt jerk is given to the chain 36, the pull rod 26 will be jerked upwardly so that the spring 34 will be compressed and the hammer 31 will be brought into forcible contact with the lower surface of the bottom plate 21. The frusto-conical comminuting member 31 breaks into small fragments the bottom plate in its upward passage from the position shown in Figure 2 to that shown in Figure 3.

A dependent sleeve 37 is provided with a reduced externally threaded upper end 38 which is screwed into the lower end of the coupling 18. A resilient wiping ring 39 is secured between the annular shoulder 40 of the dependent sleeve and the lower end of the coupling 18. Its function will be described below. The dependent sleeve 37 is provided with an internal annular groove 41 into which are adapted to extend the outer ends of the pivotally mounted catches 42. The catches are mounted on pins 43 which extend through the slots 44 in the reduced upper end 4401 of the top member 45 of the plug 11. The reduced upper end 440 telescopes into the lower end of the dependent sleeve 37 so that the outer ends 46 of the catches may extend into the groove 41. The inner ends 47 of the catches are snapped into positions contacting a tubular locking member 48 by springs 49 whose lower ends are disposed in suitable recesses in the upper end 44a. The downward movement of the locking member 48 is limited by the internal annular shoulder S of the top member 45. It will now be apparent that the top member 45 will be secured to the dependent sleeve 37 as long as the locking member is in the bore 50 of the top member.

The locking member is pulled out of the bore 50 by the lower section 25 of the pull rod by means of the an-- nular shoulder 51, provided by the enlargement 52 on the end of the lower section, which engages the catches 53. The catches 53 are pivotally mounted in the slots 54 of the locking member on pins 55 which extend through the slots. The catches 53 are biased toward the stop pins 56 by springs 55a whose lower ends are disposed in suitable recesses in the locking member. The locking member 48 may be mounted on the lower section 25 of the pull rod by inserting the lower enlargement 52 into the bore 57 of the locking member. The catches 53 will pivot downwardly against the resistance of the springs as the enlargement moves past them. Once the annular shoulder of 51 has moved downwardly past the catches 53, the catches will be moved upwardly and will project into the path of upward movement of the annular shoulder. As a result, when the pull rod is moved upwardly relative to the top part 45 of the barrier, the annular shoulder will engage the catches and move them upwardly until their upward pivotal movement is arrested by the stop pins 56. Further upward movement of the pull rod will now cause the lock member 48 to be moved upwardly out of the bore 50 of the stop member. The dependent sleeve 37 can now move upwardly relative to the top part 45, the lower portion of the groove contacting the outer ends 46 of the catches 42 which are now free to pivot to the position shown in Figure 3 out of the path of movement of the dependent sleeve.

The plug 11 in addition to the top part 45 comprises a bottom part 58 which is secured to the top part by a tubular connecting member 59. The top and bottom parts of the plug have reduced ends 60 and 61, respectively, which are threaded into opposite ends of the connecting member. A wiping and positioning flexible ring 62 is held between the adjacent flanges 62a and 63 of the top part and the connecting member, respectively, and a similar ring 64a is held between the adjacent flanges 64 and 65 of the bottom member and the connecting member, respectively.

The trip 12 includes a hollow mandrel 66 having a top tubular section 67 whose lower end is threaded into a bore in the upper end of the bottom section 68. The upper end of the top section 67 is provided with a conical recess in which are disposed wedges 69 forced into tight contact with the cable 14 by a cap 70 threaded on the top portion of the top section 67. The lower end of the lower section is provided with a recess having a conical portion 71 in which are disposed wedges 72, similar to wedges 69, which are forced into tight contact by a nut 73 which screws into a threaded portion 74 of the lower end. The mandrel 66 is thus clamped immovably to the cable 14.

A sleeve member 75 is provided at its top end with an r inwardly extending flange 76 which overlies the top annular surface 77 of the lower section 68. A relatively strong spring 77a is disposed about the upper section 67 of the mandrel between the top surface 77 of the lower section and the bottom surface 78 of the flange 76. The flange 76 is provided with transverse bores 79 in which are loosely disposed pins 80. The pins 80 are of greater length than the distance between the inner surface 81 of the lower portion 82 of a lock sleeve 83 which is telescopcd over the sleeve member 75 and the surface of the top tubular section 67. As a result, the inner ends of the pin 80 must be disposed in an annular groove 84 in the upper section 67 of the mandrel before the lower portion 82 of the lock sleeve 83 can be telescoped on the sleeve member 75 to the position shown in Figure 4. This requires that the sleeve member be moved downwardly over the lower section 68 compressing the spring 77a until the inner ends of the pins 80 are aligned with the groove 84. The lower portion 82 of the lock sleeve 83 may now be moved up to prevent outward movement of the pins thus locking the sleeve member 75 in the position shown in Figure 4.

The upper portion 86 of the lock sleeve has a greater internal diameter than the lower portion 82 so that if the lock sleeve is moved downwardly until the internal annular shoulder 87 of the lock sleeve moves down below the outer ends of the pins 30, the pins 80 will move outwardly since the sleeve member is biased upwardly with respect to the mandrel by the spring 77a and since the inner ends of the pins and the sides of the groove are rounded so that a camming action occurs therebetween whenever the pins are free to move outwardly.

The locking sleeve 83 is biased upwardly and held in the position shown in Figure 4 by a spring 88 which is disposed about the cable 14 between the cap 70 and the inwardly extending annular flange 89 of a tubular member 90 whose lower end is connected to the upper end of the lock sleeve by an annular coupling 92. The coupling 92 is disposed about the upper section 67 of the mandrel 66 between the flange 76 of the sleeve member 75 and the flange 93 of the upper section 67. It will be seen that the flange 93 limits the upward movement of the tubular member 90 and the locking sleeve 83 by engaging the coupling 92.

If a weight such as the go-devil or a tubular member is now allowed to slide down and strike the flange 89, the tubular member 90, 83 will be moved downwardly against the resistance of the relatively weak spring 88 and the internal annular shoulder 87 will be moved below the outer ends of the pins 80. The pins 80 will then move outwardly and the sleeve member 75 will be strong upward jerk will be imparted to the pull rod 26' by the chain 36 whose upper end is secured tothe lower end of the sleeve member 75.

In use, the trip 12 is first mounted on the cable 14 and the bailer is then suspended on the lower end of the cable. The trip is cocked by pulling sleeve member 75 down until the inner ends of the pins enter the groove 84. The spring 88 will then move the locking sleeve 83 to the position shown in Figure 4. The rings 62 and 640, the bottom part 58, the top part 45, and the connecting member 59 are assembled to form the plug 11. The locking member 48 is then moved downwardly into the bore until it contacts the shoulder S while the catches 42 are held in the position shown in Figure 2. The reduced portion 44a of the top part 45 of the plug 11 is then inserted into the dependent sleeve 37, the catches 42 pivoting into the positions shown in Figure 2 once they pass the lower portion of the sleeve 37 and can extend into the groove 41. The upper portions of the catches are curved to allow camming action between the catches and the sleeve 37. Once the outer ends 46 of the catch extend into the groove 41 upward movement of the dependent sleeve 37 will bring the outer ends 46 of the catches into contact with the lower surface of the groove 41 and the catches will be pivoted into engagement with the locking member 48. The plug and bailer are then lowered into the well until the cable connection 16 comes into proper position above the floor of the working platform of the well. The bottom plate 21 already mounted on the pull rod between the washer 28 and the nesting spring 34 is lowered by means of the chain 36 through the open top of the cable connection 16 into the cylindrical shell 15. The weight of this assembly will cause the hooks 23 to bend downwardly when the bottom plate rests on them and the plate will come to rest on the resilient ring 20. The enlargement 52 of the lower section 25 will have previously entered the bore 57 of the locking member 48, the catches 53 moving downwardly against the resistance of the springs 55a and then movmg upwardly to the positions shown in Figure 2.

The charge of cement or other substance is then placed into the bailer through the open top of the cable connection 16. The charge will rest on the bottom plate.

The whole assembly is now lowered into the well on the cable 14. The rings 62 and 64a of the plug 11 will wipe the hole of the well in their passage therethrough. The rings 62 and 64a will tend to hold the plug 11 in place in the well but the weight of the bailer will push the plug down the well. When the plug 11 is positioned at the desired point in the well, the go-devil 13 is slid down the cable 14 and strikes the flange 89. This causes the locking sleeve to be moved downwardly and the strong spring 77a will raise the sleeve member abruptly causing a jerk of considerable force to be given the chain 36. The pull rod 26 will be moved upwardly breaking the frangible bottom plate and pulling the locking memher up out of bore 57 since the shoulder 51 will contact the catches 53 whose upward movement is limited by the stop pins 56.

If the cable is then pulled up, the plug 11 will remain in place being held there by the resilient rings 62 and 64a. As the dependent sleeve 37 moves upwardly, the catches 42 will be snapped into the positions shown in Figure 3. When the bottom plate is broken into small pieces, the charge of cement drops or flows downwardly and is thus deposited atop the plug 11. As the bailer is moved upwardly, the resilient ring 39 wipes the hole to facilitate bonding of the cement to the well and in addition creates a pressure differential which sinks the charge of cement out of the bailer in substantially a single mass so that undue dilution of the charge with well fluid is prevented. If the deposition of additional charges of cement atop the plug 11 is desired, the trip is cocked again as it emerges p 0 from the well. The pull rod assembly is drawn out of the bailer and a new bottom plate is mounted thereon. The locking member 48 is removed since another plug 11 is not needed. The bottom plate is placed in the bailer in the manner described and the unloading process is repeated when the bailer reaches a position immediately above the plug 11. This process may be repeated as often as desired.

It will be apparent now that a device for depositing a charge of cement or other material at a desired position in a well has been described in which an easily assembled and loaded bailer 10 is provided with a detachable plug 11 and a frangible bottom plate 21. The device also includes a trip 12 and pull rod 26 for breaking the bottom plate and releasing the plug from the bailer which is actuated by a weight dropped on the trip. Moreover, the bailer has been provided with a resilient ring 39 which creates a pressure diiferential between the space between the plug and the lower discharge end of the bailer and the space above the bailer as the bailer is drawn upwardly, the pressure differential thus created forcing the cement out of the bailer in a substantially single mass thus preventing undue dilution of the cement with well fluid.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made in the described and illustrated machine without departing from the invention and it is intended therefore, in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A dump bailer for depositing foreign material in a well comprising an elongate cylindrical shell; an inwardly extending annular ledge adjacent the lower end of said shell; 21 frangible disk disposed on said ledge and closing the bottom of said shell, said disk having an aperture; a pull rod extending slidably through said aperture; means on said pull rod beneath said disk for shattering said disk when said pull rod is moved upwardly relative to'said disk; and a resilient outwardly extending flange on said cylindrical shell for engaging the walls of a well to prevent flow of fluid past said flange whereby upward movement of the bailer in a well will create a pressure differential above and below the cylindrical shell which will tend to force the foreign material out of the bailer in a substantially single mass thereby preventing undue dilution of the foreign material with Well fluid.

2. A device for depositing cement at a desired position in a well comprising a bailer having an elongate cylindrical body provided with a longitudinal bore; a frangibledisk disposed in said bore adjacent the lower end of said cylindrical body and having an aperture, said disk closing said bore and adapted to retain cement in said bore; a pull rod extending slidably through said aperture; a hammer for shattering said frangible disk upon upward movement of said pull rod mounted on said pull rod beneath said disk, and means connected to said pull rod for moving said pull rod upwardly.

3. A device for depositing cement at a desired position in a well comprising a bailer having an elongate cylindrical body provided. with a longitudinal bore; a frangible disk disposed in saidbore adjacent the lower end of said cylindrical body and having an aperture, said disk closing said bore and adapted to retain cement in said bore; a pull rod extending slidably through said aperture; a hammer for shattering said frangible disk upon upward movement of said pull rod mounted on said pull rod beneath said disk; means connected to said pull rod for moving said pull rod upwardly; a plug releasably mounted on the lower end of said bailer; said plug having an upper reduced portion telescoping into the lower end of said elongate cylindrical body; attaching means mounted on'said reduced portion and movable into actuated engaging position with the cylindrical body to hold said reduced portion in said cylindrical body; and locking means connected to said pull rod for maintaining said attaching means in actuated engaging position, whereby upward movement of said pull rod will pull said locking means from said attaching means whereby said plug will be released from said cylindrical body.

4. A device for depositing cement at a desired position in a well comprising a bailer having an elongate cylindrical body provided with a longitudinal bore; a frangible disk disposed in said bore adjacent the lower end of said cylindrical body and having an aperture said disk closing said bore and adapted to retain material in said bore; a pull rod extending slidably through said aperture; a hammer for shattering said frangible disk upon upward movement of said pull rod mounted on said pull rod beneath said disk; an annular resilient member for engaging the well wall mounted on said cylindrical body to prevent flow of fluid between said well wall and said cylindrical body for creating a pressure differential in a well above and below said cylindrical body as said cylindrical body is moved upward in a well whereby said pressure ditierential will tend to cause material in said longitudinal bore to be discharged downwardly from said bore into the well.

5. A device for depositing cement at a desired position in a well comprising a bailer having an elongate cylindrical body provided with a longitudinal bore; a frangible disk disposed in said bore adjacent the lower end of said cylindrical body and having an aperture said disk closing said bore and adapted to retain material in said bore; a pull rod extending slidably through said aperture; a hammer for shattering said frangible disk upon upward movement of said pull rod mounted on said pull rod beneath said disk; a plug releasably mounted on the lower end of said bailer; means for releasing said plug operatively associated with the lower end of said pull rod, whereby said plug will be released and said disk will be shattered upon upward movement of said pull rod; an annular resilient member for engaging the well wall mounted on said cylindrical body to prevent flow of fluid between said well wall and said cylindrical body for creating a press're differential in a well above and below said cylindrical body as said cylindrical body is moved upward in a well whereby said pressure differential will tend to cause material in said longitudinal bore to be discharged downwardly from said bore into the well.

6. A dump bailer for depositing foreign material in a well comprising an elongate cylindrical shell; a frangible bottom plate having an aperture mounted in and closing of? the bottom end of the shell; a pull rod passing slidably through said aperture for breaking said bottom plate into fragments; a fiexible member connected to said pull rod for pulling the rod upwardly, means on said pull rod beneath said plate for breaking the bottom plate whereby foreign material carried in said shell will be discharged from the bailer; and a resilient outwardly extending flange on said cylindrical shell for engaging the walls of a well to prevent flow of fluid past said flange whereby upward movement of the bailer in a Well will create a pressure differential above and below the cylindrical shell which will tend to force the foreign material out of the bailcr in a substantially single mass thereby preventing undue dilution of the foreign material with well fluid.

7. The device for depositing a mass of foreign material in a well including a bailer suspended from a line and comprising a cylindrical shell, a frangible bottom plate having an aperture mounted in and closing ofi the bottom end of the shell; a pull rod slidably extending through said aperture, means on said pull rod below said plate for breaking said bottom plate into fragments; and a trip comprising a hollow mandrel disposed about and secured to said line above said bailer, a hollow sleeve member mounted between upper and lower positions on said mandrel for limited longitudinal movement on said mandrel and connected to said pull rod by a flexible member, means biasing said sleeve member toward said upper position, and lock means for locking said sleeve member in said lower position, said lock means including a lock sleeve slidably mounted on said mandrel and normally maintained in an upper locking position on the mandrel, locking said sleeve member in its lower position by a resilient member, said lock sleeve telescoping over the up per end of said sleeve member, and means mounted on said sleeve member and held in position engaging said mandrel by said lock sleeve when said lock sleeve is in its upper position for preventing upward movement of said sleeve member, said last mentioned means allowing upward movement of said sleeve member when said lock sleeve is moved to a lower position to allow said means to disengage from said mandrel whereby a blow delivered to the upper end of said lock sleeve by an object dropped on said lock sleeve will move said lock sleeve downwardly and unlock said sleeve member to allow upward movement of said sleeve member under the upward force exerted by said biasing means.

8. A trip for a bailcr adapted to be suspended from a line comprising an elongate hollow mandrel disposed about and secured to said line in fixed position above the bailcr, a hollow sleeve member mounted on said mandrel for limited longitudinal movement between upper and lower positions on said mandrel; means connecting said sleeve member to a mechanism of said bailer; means biasing said sleeve member to said upper position on said mandrel; and lock means for locking said sleeve member in said lower position on said mandrel, said lock means including a lock sleeve slidably mounted on said mandrel and telescoping about said sleeve member, means on said sleeve member held in position engaging said mandrel by said lock sleeve when said lock sleeve is in an upper position for preventing upward movement of said sleeve member, said last mentioned means permitting upward movement of said sleeve member when said lock sleeve is moved to a lower position to disengage from said mandrel, and means biasing said lock sleeve to a normal upper position, whereby a blow delivered to the upper end of said lock sleeve by an object dropped on said lock sleeve will move said lock sleeve downwardly and unlock said sleeve member to allow upward movement of said sleeve member on the mandrel under the upward force exerted by said first mentioned biasing means, said sleeve member in its upward movement actuating said mechanism through said connecting means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,749,928 tephenson Mar. ll, 1930 2,043,225 Armentrout et al June 9, 1936 2,357,589 Holmes Sept. 5, 1.944 

